Cahokia and the North American Worlds

We examine how Cahokia grew (10th and 15th centuries) to be a powerful city with a diverse population.

This Element covers the history of Native North America's largest city: Cahokia, providing the archaeological history of its emergence and collapse with a focus on politics, religion, and urbanism. This text is for scholars of archaeology and history as well as college students, high school students, educators, and non-academics.The City of Cahokia provides a unique case study to review what draws people to a place and why. This Element examines not only the emergence and decline of this great American city but its intersection with the broader Native American world during this period. Cahokia was not an isolated complex but a place vivid on the landscape where people made pilgrimages to and from Cahokia for trade and religious practices. Cahokia was a centre-place with expansive reach and cultural influence. This Element analyses the social and political processes that helped create this city while also reflecting on the trajectory of Native American history in North America.